Hearts Linked in the Lifestream
by MyGoldenLady
Summary: Kate Grigori, a young networking engineer for Shinra, is sent out on an assignment for her department and gets more excitement than she bargained for. What does a silent and deadly-trained SOLDIER have to do with her? Read on to find out! (This will be a slow-paced story and is intended to span from before Crisis Core to beyond the events of FFVII's game.)
1. Of Elevators and SOLDIERS

CHAPTER 1 – Of Elevators and SOLDIERS

The day started the same as any other. Kate Grigori was late for work due to an overcrowded train from Sector 5 to the Shinra building via the Sector 8 platform. Commuters from all over the upper Plate rushed into Sector 0 around 8 AM every weekday and generally caused an immovable traffic-jam in the surrounding sectors. Despite Shinra's claim to advanced technology and improvement in quality of life for people around the world, Kate secretly admonished the company for its lack of interest in rectifying the atrocious and overcrowded public transportation system.

Fleeing from the packed train station onto Loveless Avenue, Kate silently cursed to herself as a steady downpour met her face-on. Pulling her light, business trench coat up to her ears, and tucking her purse and briefcase under her arms, she dodged people and traffic along the avenue. Her eyes automatically homed in on the green and white fluorescent sign ahead that indicated a caffeine infusion was just moments away. Reaching the revolving doors, Kate rushed inside to find the queue was nearly twenty people long. With a glance at her watch and a groan she decided that she was going to be late no matter what she did, so she might as well as earn the reprimand from her boss with coffee in hand rather than without it. The line inched along at the pace of a tonberry. Trying to mentally speed up the process with her thoughts alone, Kate released another sigh as her place in line moved slightly closer to the counter. The man in front of her spoke in an irritated voice as he turned to look at her, "Do you mind not breathing in my face?"

As his eyes locked with hers, he immediately dropped the frustrated demeanor and straightened up. "My apologies Miss. I did not see who was standing there," he continued with what Kate assumed was to be a charming smile, but came off rather sleazy. "A pretty girl like you must have had a rough night, last night, hmmm?" he inquired with that same grin and a raised eyebrow.

Kate inwardly groaned. It was too early in her day to deal with this nonsense. Continuing to look him in the eye, she returned the gesture with a small grimace and arched her own brow at him. "I supposed you could say that," she shrugged. "I spent far too much time last night working on a subnetting issue for the new operations floors. Then I had to chase down a rogue router that was blocking all traffic into R&D. It had several inconsistent ACLs on the incoming ports, but I got it all taken care of in the end."

The man stared at her as if she had suddenly sprouted antlers out of her head, and Kate couldn't help but smile in earnest at his reaction. The man seemed dazed at her confession and then again by her smile. A man's voice behind Kate suddenly spoke, "Are you going to order your coffee or hit on the woman all morning, Myers? The rest of us have important places to be, besides your dingy little souvenir shop." The man, named Myers, turned a magnificent shade of red and turned back around to find the line gone and the barista falsely smiling at him. He quickly ordered and paid for his coffee then carefully made sure not to make eye contact with Kate again as he fled the coffee shop. Kate thanked the heavens above as she retrieved her coffee and hurried out into the street. Walking with as large of stride as her navy pencil skirt would allow, she made a beeline for the gigantic metallic structure that signified the titanic global superpower that was Shinra Headquarters; and nearly three blocks away.

Scurrying into the lobby and slipping on the wet tile floors, Kate nearly dropped her coffee. She righted herself just in time and managed to make it to the elevators at the rear of the main floor. Shuffling in beside the other late stragglers she swiped her badge and hit the button for the 65th floor. As people got off along the way, Kate kept moving towards the back of the elevator carefully holding her coffee close to her to keep from spilling any. Finally, the last employee disembarked at the 45th floor and Kate could have a moment to herself since she left her apartment back in Sector 5 that morning. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the aroma of her coffee, not daring to take a sip until she was safely at her desk, when the elevator halted with a ding and the doors opened. Looking up at the red dot matrix numbers she saw that it was only the 49th floor as a man in a SOLDIER uniform walked into the elevator. He nodded at her with a serious expression as he swiped his badge and hit the button for the 51st floor. She nodded back at him with a small nervous smile and continued to look straight ahead as the doors closed and the elevator continued its upward journey. She noticed from her peripheral vision that the man was rather large and muscular. He had slicked back black hair that hung to just above his shoulders, and a large sword attached to his back that looked impossibly heavy for anyone to wield.

 _But of course, SOLDIER aren't just anyone,_ thought Kate. _Judging by his black uniform, he must be a first class member. I wonder what his name is. I know he's not the great Sephiroth, obviously, due to the lack of silver hair. Or any resemblance to the posters in the cafeteria. The Shinra marketing company sure loves to show off their top ranking SOLDIER. (_ Most of the posters showed the warrior in black leather with a long sword standing in a field of luscious grass and blue sky, silver hair flying, and some ridiculous Pro-Shinra catchphrase.) _Nor is he the flamboyant one who always cares so much about his appearance. What was his name again? Jenny? Jennings? Gene- Genesis. That was it._

Kate knew it wasn't Genesis, for she had run into him once before in the elevator. She had been late to work (once again) and decided to run up the stairs instead of waiting in line for the elevators. This was one of her less bright ideas, though it did get her past the initial horde cramming into the lifts. She had bumped into a red-haired guy with a red coat near the elevators while being jostled by the crowd. He had looked down at her with a haughty expression as she forcefully blew air out of her nose in frustration. She had then decided that she didn't want to be herded along by the crowd like a chocobo and slipped across his path to the stairwell. She had made it to the 9th floor before she thought she was going to die.

Huffing and puffing like a dualhorn with asthma she dragged herself into the hallway of the 9th floor call-center department, and wobbled to the elevators at the end. The entire floor was filled with cubicles save for one wall that held the managers' offices overlooking the room, and all eyes were on her as she struggled to the elevator doors. Feeling her face burn in embarrassment as she tried to catch her breath and not look like she was going to faint or be sick in front of all the operators, was one of the toughest things she had to overcome while working at Shinra. Especially, since she had eaten a fast food meal at a local chain that morning before boarding the train in Sector 5, and it was threatening to come back up with every gulp of air she took. Finally the gods had mercy on her and the doors opened, only to take that mercy away as there stood the man in the red coat front and center with a huge grin of triumph on his face at the sight of her disheveled appearance and shortness of breath. Trying to school her look of shock into one of indifference, Kate had squished into the elevator past him, doing her best not to touch or even look at him, swiped her badge, and hit the button for her floor. Smashed up against the wall, Kate could hear two women whispering to each other and giggling into their hands while looking at the red-haired man at the front of the elevator. Trying to ignore their conversation became impossible as the next floor brought two more people on and shoved Kate back into the two women.

"I can't believe I'm on an elevator with Genesis!" squealed the brunette with too much purple eye-shadow to her friend.

"I can! This is the fifth time I've been so lucky!" answered the blonde while not taking her eyes off the man called Genesis. _She would have been pretty if she didn't have her cleavage hanging out and two pounds of foundation on_ , thought Kate.

As a fan of wearing minimal make-up and being a pro at getting ready in less than half an hour despite the length of her hair, Kate didn't see the point of painting on a face that wasn't her own. She liked to be presentable and would often dab a splash of color across her cheeks and eyelids with a quick dash of mascara and call it a success. That was about as "put together" as she would get in her day-to-day routine. Her real vanity was her hair. She had been growing it out since she was seven when she saw a picture of a princess in one of her storybooks who had magical hair that allowed her to heal sick animals and fly. Now at twenty-eight it had grown to her knees where she would keep it trimmed and the ends blunted. She did have a knack with healing spells and materia, but she hadn't learned to fly yet, much to her dismay.

Her hair was a gorgeous shade of golden blonde that shimmered beautifully when true sunlight reached the upper Plate through the smog of pollution, but it was a rare occurrence these days with the added construction of Sector 4. However, when she went to work, or out and about, or even left her apartment for that matter, she kept her hair braided and wrapped into a large bun at the base of her neck. She felt that her hair was something rather private and didn't want people staring at her all the time, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it off just yet.

"Maybe I should have him sign something," said the brunette.

"Oh, no you don't want to do that!" said the blonde over-reacting with a zealous shake of her curls and her eyes going wide.

"Why not?"

"Because," continued the blonde drawing out the word. "If you ask him that, he'll just think you are one of the usual rabble of girls fawning over him or worse yet, one of his fan club groupies!"

"But I AM in his fan club!" whispered the brunette loudly for the whole elevator to hear.

Kate snorted at this with a roll of her eyes. The silence in the lift became deafening as all eyes turned to her, including Genesis'. Trying to not look at anyone, Kate made a little coughing sound and prayed for the ability to disappear on the spot. Of course, no such luck, as the brunette turned to her.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked in a whiney voice.

Kate risked a look at the woman beside her. "I wasn't laughing," she said quietly and averted her eyes again.

"Yes you were," answered the blonde. "You were trying to make her look bad in front of Genesis!"

Everyone was watching the exchange between the three women with interest as the drama unfolded between them. Genesis continued to wear his haughty expression while pretending not to listen, but he was watching the women's reflection in the metal doors.

Kate huffed at that. "I am doing no such thing. I could care less what you do, or think about Genesis, or anything else for that matter," she stated simply.

Both the brunette and blonde puffed up at that comment and looked outraged at Kate as the doors dinged open. No one moved as they were completely engrossed in the conversation as the women had a stare down.

"How dare you insult him!" exclaimed the blonde as she took a step toward Kate in what little space remained in the elevator.

"I'm not insulting anyone," said Kate as she squared off to face the blonde. "I am merely stating a fact that I don't care about your little fan clubs or whatever for the SOLIDER operatives, including Genesis. So go do whatever you want to do, but leave me out of it."

The doors threatened to close, but Genesis held out an arm causing the doors to retract once more. "Ladies," he said while turning his head to look over his shoulder at them. "I do believe this is your floor, is it not?"

The two women jerked their heads toward him at the same time and made little "o's" with their mouths as they gawked at him then hurried forward. Jostling the other occupants, they made it to Genesis as he bowed to them and gestured to the 22nd floor that lay beyond his hands. They squealed "Thank you" and "Oh, Genesis!" at him as they exited the lift and he stepped back inside.

"My pleasure, ladies," he simpered. "Have a pleasant day." He smiled at them as the doors closed and the elevator continued upward.

Kate released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and averted her eyes for the remainder of the ride, until she noticed that it was down to just her and Genesis. Trying to sneak a look at him, Kate thought that he was handsome in a roguish yet aristocratic way with his choppy red hair and pointed features, but the effect was somewhat ruined in her opinion due to the gaudy silver earring and obnoxious red leather overcoat. Realizing that he was still watching her with that stupid grin, she looked up and met his gaze.

"What are you smiling at?" she huffed and crossed her arms as best as she could while still holding her briefcase. The action came off slightly clumsy, but she didn't care.

Genesis just smiled wider and leaned back casually into the corner of the elevator. "Oh, nothing in particular," he replied with a flamboyant wave of his hand.

"Right," said Kate with a pointed look at him.

The elevator door dinged and opened on the 49th floor and Genesis rose from his corner and exited. As the doors slowly closed, he turned and mockingly bowed to Kate saying, "There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the goddess."

The doors closed with a soft whump, leaving Kate standing in the elevator alone and looking very confused. She had tried to puzzle out what Genesis had meant by those words all the way to her desk that day, but had given up when she saw the pile of work waiting for her, and thought nothing more of them since.

Jarred back to the present by a low voice, Kate blinked hard a few times before looking around her and seeing the same muscular man from SOLDIER still standing several feet from her in the lift.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" she asked tentatively.

The man gave a small smile, "I was just asking if you were lost in thought, but it seems I needn't have bothered as that appears to be the case."

"Heh. Yeah, sorry. I was just remembering something," she said dismissively, waving her hand exactly how Genesis had months before.

The man quirked an eyebrow at her gesture, but said nothing as the elevator stopped and he disembarked with another nod in her direction. Kate just stood there staring at the elevator doors without seeing them. _What is with these SOLDIER guys anyways?_ she thought to herself. _They are all so strange._


	2. Coffee and Karma

CHAPTER 2 – Coffee and Karma

Finally she had reached the 65th floor where she worked as a network engineer for Shinra. The upper level IT department shared the floor with Urban Development and had been losing office space with the new influx of architectural engineers hired on for the new Sector 4 revamp and upcoming Sector 6 reconstruction. Of course, this didn't sit well with the IT managers who felt that this encroachment of their employees' space was a personal affront to their own wellbeing and made a huge deal of it at any chance they could get.

Slipping out of the elevator as quietly as she could, Kate began to make her way down the halls taking a circuitous route towards her cubical along the main hall. Her senses were on alert for any movement or sound that was attributed to her boss, Mr. Rollings, in the hopes of avoiding him until she had at least made it to her desk to pretend that she hadn't been late.

Mr. Rollings was an astronomical jerk to Kate. There was no denying it. No matter if she was on time or early, managed to solve all the network issues for the day, or single-handedly prevented a catastrophe, Mr. Rollings was never satisfied with her. She always received the worst scolding out of all the employees and was generally treated unfairly. She was also the only woman in the department on the 65th floor. Sometimes Kate wondered if that was the reason he hated her so much. His behavior towards her had been outright rude in the beginning, but had grown into something truly frightening at times since she had shown him up at several points over the years. This usually involved her fixing an issue that his poor management should have solved without her interfering, but left her standing in a good light with the executives and him pushed to the side. Regardless of his reasons for treating Kate the way he did, she preferred to keep her distance whenever feasible, and never openly defied him in public.

Peering around the last corner into the IT department, Kate saw that her two cubical-mates were already engrossed in their work and the rest of her coworkers were typing furiously at their desks intent on whatever secrets their screens revealed to them. Mr. Rollings wasn't anywhere in sight which meant he was either in his office chewing out some poor field technician from another floor or…

"Ms. Grigori," whispered an unctuous voice behind her. Kate jumped like a jackrabbit on steroids as she whirled around with a shout and sent her coffee spinning out of her hand. In slow motion Kate watched as the lid of the cup separated from the container like a rocket shedding its booster engines in space. The dark amber liquid arched gracefully from the cup in a radiant display of physics, and then fell across her boss's impeccably shined dress-shoes. Time stood still for a fraction of a second, and Kate forgot to breathe thinking this was the end. And then, everything went into fast-forward as if to make up for that lost moment.

"KA-ATE!" screeched Mr. Rollings his eyes wild and pointing his finger at the shocked woman. The entire IT department stopped typing as people tentatively rose from their chairs to watch the spectacle unfurling in the hall. Kate stood in the middle of the hall frozen in place not daring to move for fear of attracting more unwanted fury from her boss. Her briefcase lay open upside-down at her feet; papers, manila folders, and USB thumb drives strewn around her in a chaotic swirl of debris as if she were the eye of a tornado. Mr. Rollings moved toward her, his finger still pointing at her as if he could erase her very existence from the planet with it. His shoes crunched on the papers scattered across the floor, making Kate wince.

"You will clean this mess up!" he hissed at her in a low voice. "And report to my office immediately." Mr. Rollings stalked off towards his office turning his head as he went catching his employees staring at him. "What are you looking at!?" he shouted. "Get back to work or I will fire more than one of you today!" He said the last part looking back at Kate who was still standing in the hallway dumbstruck.

Everyone quickly ducked back behind their cubicles into safety and the busy-bee sounds of frantic typing resumed once more. At the distant slam of Mr. Rollings retreating into his office, Kate's cubemates came toward her to wake her from her stupor. Eric reached out and shook her shoulder gently, "Hey. Nice entrance," he said with a nervous grin. Kate sighed and turned to him.

"Heh, I think I'm dead meat this time. The coffee was all over his precious shoes," she groaned as she brought a hand to her face wiping away the rain that had dripped its way down from her hair. Eric gathered the remains of what was left of her coffee and threw away the offending cup in the break room around the corner.

Moose was bending down and gathering all of her papers and thumb drives. "Well, at least it wasn't potato salad this time. Hey, move over a bit, your coat is dripping all over these ones," he said shuffling near her feet. Kate quickly sidestepped him and bent to help him gather the rest of her work. Straightening up with her things in hand, Kate gave the two of them a half-hearted smile.

"You guys are alright," she said fondly. "I'll miss you both so much…" she looked at her feet.

"Oh, come on Kate, as if you're really going to be fired," said Moose exasperatedly. "Ol' Rollings doesn't have enough sway to kick you out just yet. Especially since the last time you saved his behind, and in front of the board members no less."

"Yeah!" piped in Eric. "You still have brownie points with them. They won't let you go just because that jerk face says so!"

"Eric…" warned Moose, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "You are in the workplace. You should behave with a professional manner. Which involves not calling your superiors names." Lowering his voice further he added, "Even if such names are an accurate representation of said individual."

"Whatever, Moose," said Eric rolling his eyes and shrugging.

"I believe we should return to our work area and stop dallying in the hallway," said Moose moving towards their cubicle with Eric in tow. Kate turned to follow them into their little sanctuary.

Moose was one of Kate's oldest friends in the company. She had been cubemates with him since her first day nearly six years ago when she joined Shinra. At fifty-six with a balding head and large belly, he was like a father figure at times. He always had a ready smile and encouraging words for her or Eric when they needed them. Of course, his given name wasn't Moose, but actually Bob Mullins. Kate had given him the nickname Moose one year at the company Christmas party when he wore a particularly hideous Christmas sweater with a flaming orange moose on the front. It had stuck from that point on which was actually a good thing, since there were over one-hundred-thirty-six Bob's in the company according to Eric when he last decided to check the employee directory for the fun of it. Moose was one of the most efficient and experienced network engineers and had worked for Shinra since his glory days as a rambunctious graduate. Recently he had been going through a tough time with his wife Debbie who was currently undergoing chemo for lung cancer and was in and out of the hospital for treatment.

And of course there was Eric. Eric Summers was the newest addition to the cubemates' domain as a network analyst. He was supposed to be temporarily stationed with Kate and Moose during a moving phase that shifted the IT department into a smaller section of the 65th floor. That was two years ago. Now he was permanently situated beside Kate in their U-shaped desk shared among the three of them; empty chip bags, half-finished packs of mints, and thousands of hole punched paper pieces and all. Kate had to consistently shove all of his mess back to his side of the desk two or three times a day. It had become a game of how long could his mess invade her desk territory before she shoved it back to his side. There was even a line of tape over the desk with flag markers on toothpicks and their initials on them to signify who conquered what side last.

Entering the cubicle, Kate saw that Eric had bombarded her area already this morning by claiming the usually empty space with a large wicker basket; his little flag nestled on top. Kate turned to him with eyebrows upraised.

"Going on another picnic under the tree with Angela again, are we?" she said with a grin.

Eric turned to her in his chair, biting his lip with a silly smile on his face and nodded. "Yeah, well, you know. She thinks it's so cute and all. I figured I would ask her again today." Eric had been sweet on a receptionist on 7th who worked for the IT field techs for a while now. He finally got the nerve to ask her to lunch one day and liked to surprise her with a picnic under the only tree in the cafeteria as a date whenever he could. Kate thought it was as corny, as corny could get, but Angela thought the world of it and had been inseparable from Eric since.

"Well just make sure you get back to your desk on time. I suck at coming up with excuses for you," said Kate with a chuckle. Before Eric could reply, Moose interrupted them, "Speaking of being late, shouldn't you be in Mr. Rollings office by now?"

"Oh crap!" exclaimed Kate. Quickly shrugging out of her coat and tossing it over her chair she hurried off to meet her fate.


	3. It All Starts with Email

CHAPTER 3 – It All Starts with Email

Surprisingly, Kate had a relatively short scolding from her boss. Apparently, he had a meeting to attend shortly after she showed up for her telling-off. Kate felt like today might not be so bad after all if getting away with a twenty minute tantrum from her boss was any indication after ruining his precious Zolom-scaled dress-shoes. Plopping down into her chair and spinning around to log in to her computer, Kate felt the eyes of her friends on her.

"Well," said Eric, "how did it go?"

"Fabulous!" replied Kate. "I won't be canned just yet. He has a meeting in a few minutes, and you know how he likes to primp before meetings." She laughed, spinning around once in her chair.

"Well don't count on being let off the hook so easily," cautioned Moose. "You know how he _also_ likes to not let things go. He might try to get you later."

"Oh, I know," said Kate crossing her arms and her smile fading. "Don't crush my hopes, Moose! It's all I have to keep me coming back every day and dealing with his antics."

"And here I thought it was to see me!" pouted Eric.

Kate grinned playfully at him, "Yeah, right. It's more like to see your mountain of mess over here. I can't even see you if I lean over like this!"

Eric just shrugged and went back to his work. Taking their cue from Eric, the other two turned to their screens and began to focus on their tasks for the day.

Four hours, two-hundred emails, six phone calls, and thirty excel sheets later, Kate felt like banging her head into the desk repeatedly until she was unconscious. Reading through her email, she had several that were apparently forwarded from her boss that had come from the operations teams specializing in Mako harvesting at a specific reactor. The reactor in question was located along the sides of Mount Nibel on the western continent. According to several of the Mako operation analysts, this reactor has been sending them the same consistent numbers regarding its production levels for the past three months. They are now beginning to suspect the accuracy of the data supposedly coming from the reactor. They wanted someone from networking to analyze the traffic to determine if the data was really coming from the reactor and there have been no inaccurate transmissions.

Stretching back in her chair, Kate yawned once, then leaned forward slapping her hands down on her desk. Both Eric and Moose jumped at the suddenness of her movement and the noise.

"Okay, I give in. It's time for coffee," said Kate standing up. "Even if it is that nasty, black, dirt-water in the break room. I'm going to need it for this next task."

Looking past her Moose said quickly, "I wouldn't advise it. Rollings is stalking around the floor at the moment. If he sees you with coffee again…" he trailed off giving her a meaningful look. Kate looked around, and sure enough, there he was, swooping around and watching people over their shoulders.

"Ugh!" said Kate with disgust as she quickly sat down to avoid meeting Mr. Rollings' gaze. "I can't do anything in this joint! Moose would you be so kind as to get me a cup?"

Moose shook his head. "I'd rather not incur his wrath myself. And wandering around with a cup of coffee might set him off again. I haven't had any myself today except before you got in." He leaned over to the right revealing his empty coffee mug hidden under a pile of papers and folders.

"Jeez, Moose. Sometimes, I think you fly _too_ far under the radar," said Kate with a shake of her head.

"Better safe than sorry," he replied turning back to his work.

Kate _hmphed_ then returned to hers as well. She would have asked Eric, but he had escaped while she was talking with Moose for his own lunch date. Settling in to chase the Mount Nibel reactor problem to its end, Kate got to work with a grim determination to make it through the day without any caffeine in her system.

Two hours later, she was beginning to feel frustrated beyond measure. At first glance the reactor's network traffic looked to be fine and accounted for. But upon further inspection and issuing a traceroute command, she was beginning to unravel a complex issue she hadn't counted on. Apparently, the physical server located inside the reactor wasn't reachable from the Shinra network. This didn't make sense; however, because the analysts were still receiving data from the server, which couldn't be possible if the server was non-responsive. Delving further into the network traffic, Kate found that the data the operators were receiving, was actually due to a network loop through several routers that were sending the packets out over and over, each time appearing to be coming from the requested data source issued by the operation analysts here at headquarters. Writing up her findings into her report she emailed the verdict to the operation analysts and cc'd her boss.

Finally coming out from behind her computer monitor, Kate glanced at the large digital clock on the wall near the elevators to see that she only had half an hour to go until freedom. Feeling drained from twiddling around in all the network traffic across the western hemisphere all day, Kate was counting on a nice long bath when she got home and maybe a pizza delivered from Angelo's down on 3rd street in Sector 5. She was just daydreaming of what toppings she wanted on her pizza when she heard the distant slam of a door and stomping which was getting louder as she pulled herself out of her trance. Hoping against hope that Mr. Rollings didn't stop at her cubicle, Kate maintained a motionless and rigid stance while staying in her chair. Unfortunately, he did stop. Right at her desk. _Damn!_ She swore in her head as she looked up at Mr. Rollings who appeared ready to breathe fire at any moment.

"What is this?!" he shouted at her while waving a folder around in her face.

"Um, it appears to be a folder, sir. Perhaps with paper in it too?" she replied sweetly.

"Don't play coy with me, Ms. Grigori. This report you just issued out, do you have any idea the trouble this has caused?!" he was yelling at her still waving the folder inches from her face.

"I believe that I do, since I was the one who discovered the problem, though if I may say, I'm surprised at the speed in which you printed it. If you care to read my recommendations on solving the issue, right at the end of the report," said Kate calmly. "You would see that it is a layer one problem. Most likely the hard drive on the server has failed or something came unplugged. Just send out a tech and it will be up and running in no time."

Mr. Rollings narrowed his eyes and stuck out his jaw at her calm exterior. He pushed air through his nose while looking down at her. "I just got off the phone with the President's secretary and she said this is a top priority. President Shinra wants this taken care of immediately; however after speaking with our head of the technician department, we do not have any available techs to handle the mission. Do you know how _I_ plan to handle this situation?" A sadistic grin spread across his face as he continued to watch Kate's demeanor go from calm to uncertain.

"How is that, sir?" she questioned afraid to hear the answer.

His eyes burned with malicious glee as he realized he had her right where he wanted her. " _You_ will be going to rectify this little situation."

Kate stared at him for what seemed like an eternity not comprehending that she heard him correctly.

"WHAT?!" she shrieked as the words were processed in her mind. "I can't go out there! I'm not a field agent! I sit at a desk all day and solve problems from here! You can't expect me to go off traipsing through the mud and slaying monsters all to change a freakin' hard drive!" She exploded at him.

"You can and you will," he said with finality. "If you want to keep your job that is. And if you don't work here, where will you go? There is nowhere respectable you can work for this kind of money, and I don't see you happily running off to be a slum rat."

Kate stiffened up and averted her gaze to the floor. Mr. Rollings knew he had won at this point. But Kate still had more to say.

"What about an escort? You seriously can't be sending me off into the wilderness by myself with proprietary and potentially _dangerous_ information in the wrong hands do you?"

Mr. Rollings felt some of his elation at her discomfort deflate. "You will be escorted by Shinra forces," he sneered, "There will be a helicopter waiting to embark at 7am tomorrow morning. The total trip will have you back here in two days, three at the most, depending on the severity of the problem at the reactor." He threw the folder down on her desk. "This is your itinerary and instructions. Do NOT act a fool and bring shame upon this department. Is that understood?"

 _In other words, don't do anything that will make you look bad,_ thought Kate. She nodded dumbly looking defeated, as Mr. Rollings turned on his heel and stomped away. Eric reached for the folder and flipped it open scanning the pages, as Moose scooted his chair closer to Kate. Reaching out to take her hand and looking at her over his glasses, he told her point blank, "You can do this, Kate. Mr. Rollings said you won't be going alone, and it's only for a few days." Squeezing her hand a little, Moose continued, "You know, you might actually have a good time of it getting away from the office for once. When is the last time you left Midgar, anyhow?"

Kate paused for a moment trying to remember the last time she had left the city. "I think it was when I went home to visit my parents, in Kalm. That was last year wasn't it?"

Moose shook his head. "The last time you visited your parents, was nearly three years ago. I remember because Mr. Rollings was complaining that you weren't here to do your work, and wouldn't let me do anything for you while you were on vacation. He wanted to be certain there was a pile of work waiting for you to once you got back."

"That does sound like him," sighed Kate.

"No way!" exclaimed Eric stopping on a particular page in the folder. "You get to overnight in Costa Del Sol tomorrow night!" He lowered his hands and peered at Kate over the folder. "That is so unfair. You'll get paid for actually taking a vacation at one of the hottest resort towns in the world. I am so jealous!"

Kate spread her hands out and shook her head at him. "Then how about you go for me?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know if Angela would like that. I mean it _is_ a beach and all. And women wear bikinis at the beach…" Eric stopped talking, with a guilty expression on his face.

Kate laughed at his expression and Moose sighed to himself shaking his head. "Oh I know, I guess I'll need to pack mine. Wait, I don't know if I even have it anymore," said Kate trying to remember if she threw it out a while back or if it was stuffed somewhere in her apartment.

"At any rate," said Eric interrupting her thoughts, "You had better get a move on down to the tech department to get the equipment and parts you'll need for the repair."

Moose checked his watch and said, "Indeed. Everyone will be making an escape shortly, it's already a quarter 'til five."

"Alright, I might as well as get this over with," said Kate standing up.

The three coworkers saved their work, and closed down their computers while gathering their things. Eric handed Kate the folder and said, "Make sure you take lots of pictures. I want to see if Costa is really as nice as all the advertisements on TV make it out to be."

"Riiight," said Kate. "You just want to see all the half-naked women."

Eric's face flushed red and he sputtered, "No I don't! I just want to know if- if the, er… the sand is really as white as it looks. And -and if the umbrellas are really blue and orange."

"That is the lamest excuse I have ever heard!" laughed Kate as Moose raised an eyebrow.

They headed towards the elevator. Kate scanned the folder with her mission information, while Moose started lecturing Eric on business appropriate behavior. After waiting a few moments they stepped inside the lift and towards their freedom. After stopping several times to let employees on and off, they reached the 7th floor where Kate turned to her coworkers.

"Hold down the fort, while I'm away, alright?" she said with a smile. "Goodness knows what trouble you two will get in while I'm gone!"

Moose smiled back at her and putting a hand on Eric's shoulder said, "No worries, Kate. I'll keep him in line."

Eric started to protest as Kate stepped out and the doors began to close he said, "Yeah right! Have fun and don't forget the pictures. Lots of pictures!" And the doors clamped shut leaving Kate in the receptionist area of the tech department. Seeing the vacant receptionist desk, Kate assumed Angela had already left the office, so she wandered down the hall heading for the equipment and supply rooms at the far side of the floor.

Not meeting anyone on her way, Kate had to swipe her own badge for access to the equipment rooms. Walking in, she had a momentary flashback of her university days working as a grunt in the school networking labs. The supply room at Shinra Technical Institute was a cramped little closet off the end of the main floor where the actual networking racks were stored for instructional use. Kate had spent many hours in the little cupboard fixing exhausted routers and switches; trying to coax enough stability out of the devices for another semester of student use.

Returning to her task, Kate walked along the shelves picking up items she thought would be relevant to the mission. Once she had gathered all the cables, pliers, and appropriate spare hardware that might be needed, she shoved them into an empty cardboard box she found thrown haphazardly in the corner of the room. Taking a blank piece of paper from her briefcase, Kate quickly jotted down the list of items she had taken, signed her name, and left the note propped up against a gutted PC that was no doubt, part of someone's project tomorrow. Cramming her briefcase into the box, she set off towards the elevators after double checking that the equipment room door closed properly behind her. The last thing she wanted was for one of the technicians to get in trouble for missing parts or leaving a room unsecured.

Heading out of the Shinra building and into the mass exodus of people leaving from their respective jobs, Kate was relieved that it had stopped raining. Somehow she had managed to catch the 5:30 train and secure a seat looking out the window. As the train roared along the track toward Sector 5, Kate found herself gazing out over the endless grey of the city as it whipped by. Seeing all of the concrete buildings, paved roads, and cloudy sky, Kate was suddenly glad that she was leaving the city tomorrow. _It will be nice to see color again_ , she thought to herself. _It's been too long since I had last seen rolling hills or fields of wildflowers. Maybe when I get back I'll take a real vacation and go to Kalm. I know Mom and Dad would welcome me home for a bit._

Letting her thoughts take her back in time, Kate reminisced the rest of the way back to her apartment. Finally shutting the door behind her, Kate felt drained after the long day at Shinra. Deciding that it would be in her best interest to suck it up a little longer and pack tonight, rather than rushing in the morning, she set about exploring the back of her closet looking for the old and forgotten items she'd need for the next few days. During her quest, she found the well-worn backpack she'd used back home when she used to hike around the countryside. She also found her old work boots that thankfully she'd cleaned after she wore them last, (which had to be from sometime before she went to university.)

After changing into her pajamas and heating up her spaghetti leftovers from the night before, Kate made herself comfortable on her well-worn leather couch and pulled open the folder to fully review her mission tomorrow. According to the document, everything would be provided for her at Costa Del Sol and she was not to pack anything other than a change of clothes. The instructions explicitly stated not to pack a toothbrush, or hairbrush, or any personal items. She thought that was rather odd, but if Shinra wanted to buy her two or three toothbrushes for this trip, she was fine with that. This made packing for tomorrow that much easier, especially since she would be carrying so much equipment, there wouldn't be much room for anything else.

Satisfied that she had a thorough understanding of her protocols the next morning, and finished with her dinner, Kate rinsed her dishes and loaded the dishwasher before heading to her room. She then proceeded in her nightly routine of taking down her hair and brushing it until it would glide through her fingers without catching any knots. Exhausted but excited for the adventure tomorrow would bring, Kate settled into her bed and quickly fell asleep dreaming of fields of purple and gold wildflowers with white sandy beaches.


	4. SOLDIER Surprise

CHAPTER 4 – SOLDIER Surprise

The alarm went off promptly at 5 AM. Kate, however, didn't get up until 5:30 when the snooze button refused to function for the sixth time in a row. Sluggishly getting into the shower, she stood there for a full five minutes under the hot water while her brain attempted to wake up. Remembering that she would be leaving Midgar today, Kate suddenly felt more alive and had the energy she needed to start getting ready. Going through the morning motions, Kate decided to deep condition her hair because she doubted the hotel would have anything above the usual standard of shampoo and conditioner samples. She hated getting knots in her hair with a passion. Stepping out of the shower, Kate gently towel dried her hair and brushed her teeth before sitting down on her bed to detangle her long mane.

Glancing at the clock as she finished, it read 6:10 and she knew she didn't have time to fully dry her hair now that she had taken so long. Hurrying into the bathroom and firing up the old hairdryer that sounded like a plane taking off, she quickly attempted to dry it enough for a loose braid and the usual bun. After styling her hair, she did her three minute make-up routine complete with a light pink blush on her pale skin, a natural looking matte brown eye-shadow to bring out the blue of her eyes, and a dab of mascara. She left everything on her bathroom counter not bothering to pack anything, as she didn't feel the need to wear any make-up on this excursion. It wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone, anyways.

Rushing back out into her bedroom, Kate quickly pulled on a favorite pair of worn-out jeans, a white camisole, and an old, gray, university t-shirt that read "Techie in Training" in white letters across her chest. She wasn't about to go digging around in old equipment and traveling half-way across the globe in anything nice! The folder never said anything about what she was supposed to wear, so she made her own decision. Buckling her brown leather watch on and lacing up her boots, Kate glanced at the clock once more out of habit only to find that it was already 6:21. If she was going to make the 6:30 train she was going to have to run. Unplugging her smartphone from the charger and grabbing the solar-powered battery pack for it, she threw them in her backpack, and grabbed her house keys and Shinra badge from the nightstand. Carrying the pack with her into the kitchen, she threw two water bottles from the fridge in the pack and thought that would have to do. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and left her apartment not sparing another glance toward anything but the train platform at the end of her street.

Dodging the early morning commuters and puddles of rain from the previous night, Kate made it to the platform with two minutes to spare. She was out of breath already, but didn't feel dragged down. On the contrary, she was excited again, now that she knew she wasn't going to be late and she was only half an hour away from leaving the concrete prison behind -if only for a few days. Boarding the train and taking a window seat again, Kate gazed out over the Plate towards the lightening of the sky. Looking out over the tops of the buildings and cross-hatched lines of the narrow streets below her whizzing by at an incredible speed, Kate suddenly had a jolt of apprehension about her trip. _What if this is the last time I see Midgar?_ she thought to herself. _What if something happens and I don't make it back? Would anyone even miss me? Eric and Moose might. And my parents, of course, but they were back home in Kalm. I really haven't made any friends outside of my coworkers, in all of my time here._ Her thoughts were interrupted by the announcement on the train that they were approaching Sector 8. Steeling herself against negative thoughts that were threatening to overcome her, Kate shoved them aside, and tugged her backpack on as the train came to a halt and the doors slid open.

Checking her watch, Kate saw that she had fifteen minutes to make it to helipad 4 to catch her flight without being late. Hoisting the pack higher on her back and sprinting towards the Shinra building, Kate pushed herself to keep running and not think about a nice hot cup of coffee or that if she wasn't going on this silly trip, she would still be in bed playing tag with her alarm clock for another half an hour.

Upon reaching Shinra Headquarters, Kate was surprised at the lack of people around the building and inside the lobby. She easily caught an elevator and headed for the 40th floor without any delay. Shinra had a total of seven helipads spread out around the main building, each one separated by ten floors. They were small compared to the main air dock that hosted most of the air traffic to and from Shinra, but served their purpose when executives or officials from other regions needed a private landing area when visiting the company. The doors dinged open at the 40th floor without any interruptions, and Kate headed towards the glass doors at the end of the hall that opened out onto the concrete helipad.

Stepping back outside, Kate felt that same sense of apprehension return as her eyes fell onto the helicopter that was waiting. It was a small, round-nosed thing with a single rotor, and looked like it had been patched with pieces from other aircraft so many times; she wasn't sure what color it had been originally. As she approached the helicopter, she saw two pilots inside apparently bickering at one another by the rocking they were giving the machine. The door was pulled back on the track allowing Kate to easily step up inside and the two men suddenly fell silent. Looking around, Kate saw that there was a single tiny bench no more than four feet wide and two seat belts tucked into the crease along the back of the chopper. There were two headsets hanging on hooks on each side of the bench connected to the rear wall with a tangle of wires. It smelt like moldy seawater and there was as much rust inside as there was on the outside. Kate settled onto the bench, put her pack between her feet, and leaned forward to look at the two pilots sitting four feet in front of her. The tall and heavily muscled man sitting in the PIC seat on the right looked to be about forty-five and had enormously fluffy sideburns on the side of his face the color of melted caramel. His eyebrows were just as fluffy as his sideburns and rested like giant caterpillars above weathered bright blue eyes that were open in shock looking directly back at Kate.

A strangled sound escaped the copilot's open mouth as he stared at Kate, too. Kate raised an eyebrow at him giving him the once over as well. He was much younger than the captain, and looked to be around twenty-five. He was shorter than Kate's 5'7" frame and leanly built with a thick head of dark brown hair. He was clean shaven and pale with eyes so dark they appeared to be black.

Turning her eyes back to the captain, Kate held her hand out in greeting. "Hi, I'm Kate, the network engineer. This is the right helicopter, isn't it?"

The big man recovering from his shock with a grin, reached around the seat to shake her hand. "Well now, I have seen it all," he said still grinning. "The name's Talos. And yeah, this is the right bird." He was still holding her hand.

The copilot coming back to his senses offered his hand to her saying, "Jeez, Talos! Don't frighten her off in the first ten seconds! Hi, I'm Rio. Don't mind the old man, he can be overbearing at times." Talos released her hand and she shook Rio's in his place. Rio released her hand first.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," said Kate with a smile and sitting back into the bench.

"Welcome aboard the Rust Bucket!" said Talos with a laugh.

"Yeah, about that," started Kate, "I don't know much about flying, as I've never flown before… but is this thing safe?"

"Aww, she's safe as any other bird. She may not look like much, but that's the idea behind taking ol' Rust Bucket out in the first place," replied Talos whacking the side of the center console with a hand which caused a distinct metal pinging sound, as if a bolt had dropped on the pavement. He didn't seem perturbed in the least. "Ya see, this mission is to be kept confidential and since we'll be flying near Wutai-controlled areas, it's better to keep a low profile with something that doesn't scream "Shinra" all over it."

"Ah," said Kate not feeling the slightest bit reassured.

The worry must have shown on her face, because Rio added, "She's not my first choice either, but she's light and easy to maneuver so we'll be in and out in no time."

"I think I'd feel safer knowing we at least had some sort of artillery, though. Does this thing even have any weapons?" asked Kate.

"Nope! That would be a dead giveaway," said Talos with a shake of his head.

"What about an escort? In my mission brief, it said that I would be going with Shinra security," said Kate, "I don't know about you guys, but there isn't exactly a lot of room back here. How are we supposed to fit a bunch of guards in here?"

Talos responded with another of his grins, "That's because you are only getting one guard. Though, I wouldn't call him a guard to his face. That must be him coming now."

Both Kate and Rio turned to look towards the glass doors, as Talos fired up the helicopter and the blades began to spin with a deafening roar. Kate looking through the open door of the helicopter felt her heart drop to her feet and the blood drain from her face. She'd recognize that imposing figure anywhere. Striding towards the aircraft with his silver hair flying out behind him in the rosy light of the sunrise like molten mythril, was none other than Sephiroth; SOLDIER first class, greatest hero of Shinra, and her personal guard.

The black-clad warrior stepped up, ducking into the helicopter and pulled the door closed behind him with a metallic click as the latches engaged. Still ducking, he turned around as his eyes settled on Kate taking in her appearance. Kate, still completely dumbstruck, was staring at him with her mouth hanging open and wide eyes. Getting impatient, Sephiroth made a motion with his hands indicating he wanted to sit next to her on the bench. Barely, registering what was happening, Kate's subconscious kicked in and she automatically moved over on the seat as far to her side as she could go dragging her backpack with her feet. Sephiroth settled onto the seat beside her and began to unwind the twisted cable to the headset on his left. Talos, who had been watching his copilot's shocked expression as he gaped at Sephiroth with glee, twisted around in his seat waving to get Kate's attention. Once her eyes met his, he tapped his headset and mimed talking into the mic attached at his ear. Kate, understanding what he wanted, reached over to her right, lifted the headset off the hook and began untangling the wire. As she was focusing on her task she had momentarily forgotten about the passenger sitting to her left and accidentally elbowed him in the chest when she pulled a particularly stubborn knot out of the cable. Immediately tensing up, after realizing her mistake, she turned to Sephiroth with an apologetic and "please don't kill me" type of smile. Sephiroth who had managed to untangle his mess already, merely looked at her for a moment then turned away disinterested as he put the headset on.

Being more conscientious of her endeavor to unwind the cable, Kate completed her task without any more issues. As she pulled the headset over her ears she heard a crackling voice say, "Hold on to your britches, kids!" and a bellowing laugh as the helicopter lurched into the air.

Rio swore loudly in the front seat as he was still twisted around gaping at Sephiroth. Kate, who was unprepared for the take-off, fell out of her seat with a yelp, and landed on her behind at Sephiroth's feet. Scrambling to get back onto the bench, Kate accidentally grabbed Sephiroth's knee on instinct as she hoisted herself up. As soon as she sat down she jerked the seat belt out and strapped herself in. Feeling absolutely mortified that she had fallen out of her seat in front of the elite SOLDIER and managed to touch him again in less than two minutes, Kate turned her flaming face away from him, refusing to witness whatever expression he currently wore. Rio, who had seen the entire incident, quickly turned around when Sephiroth made eye contact with him, and began admonishing Talos for the lack of adequate warning before take-off.

The helicopter sputtered and rocked a few times as they climbed into the sky turning west towards their destination. Kate tried not to think about the rickety aircraft she was currently in, and turned her attention out the square window in the door to her right. She saw the ground fall away as Midgar stretched out before her in the morning light. _The city really does look like a pizza_ , she thought to herself. _A great, big, metal, pizza. Complete with glowing streams of Mako jetting into the sky from the reactors like stringy turquoise cheese. The steam rising from the Plate definitely adds to the effect, too._

Trying not to think about the fact that she missed breakfast that morning, Kate leaned back further into the bench and tried not to touch the man sitting beside her. She had closed her eyes for only a moment when they suddenly flew open as the helicopter jerked hard. She could hear Talos' voice in her ear.

"Sorry 'bout that! She's a bit outta shape, but she'll smooth out the longer her engine runs." He laughed and continued, "And if she doesn't, I hope ya can swim, Missy!"

Kate groaned in response as the worn-out machine headed out towards the sea.


	5. Oceanic Conversations

**** Author's Note** Sorry all for the late chapter! Life gets busy sometimes, but I haven't forgotten about this story. I would ideally like to publish a chapter once a month at least, but we will see how that goes. As a side note, obviously, I don't own anything pertaining to Square-Enix, and only have power over my own obnoxious, silly, and naïve OC's. Thank you for bearing with me, and without further ado, here is a nice long chapter for you! :)**

CHAPTER 5 – Oceanic Conversations

It had been an hour since the helicopter had taken off, and Kate still hadn't said a word. She had been internally debating on how to best introduce herself to her silent companion and not come across as a complete fool. She was quite convinced that Sephiroth already deemed her unworthy of his conversation, and everyone else in the chopper for that matter. He hadn't said so much as a 'hello' or made any noise at all. She began to wonder why he even bothered putting the headset on, if he wasn't going to join in on the pilots' conversation, or even appear to be listening to their chatter. _Then again, I haven't exactly been my talkative self either_ , she thought to herself.

Trying to distract herself from the flood of odd thoughts, Kate watched the landscape far below her pass by.

 _Why on sweet Gaia, did they have to send him on this mission? Is this really a critical situation? It's one reactor out of how ever many hundreds Shinra has. Rollings, did say that he spoke to the President's secretary about the issue, though._ _Maybe there is some other reason they sent their top operative. I wonder what he was told regarding the mission. Does Sephiroth know something I don't?_

Turning her head ever so slightly in Sephiroth's direction, Kate quickly glanced out the corner of her eye to see what he was doing. She needn't have bothered with such secretive measures, however; since his face was turned away from her and his gaze was fixated on the world outside his window. Kate decided to take advantage of the opportunity to assess him further without being under his scrutiny.

Her first thought was that he was extremely pale. She figured someone who worked in the field for a living and was always away on missions would have had a lot more color than he did. _Honestly, he's whiter than I am! How is that even possible!? For once, I won't be the one blinding everyone at the beach, at least._ Kate mentally sniggered and continued her silent observation. His hair was at least as long as hers if she was any judge, and lazily draped over one shoulder so he wouldn't sit on it. She knew that trick well, having to use it herself; otherwise she'd yank her head back when she wasn't paying attention and snuggling into the couch with a good book.

She noticed that he was wearing his signature black leather all of the posters showed him in. The supple leather appeared to be slightly stretched at the elbows and his gloves were worn, but otherwise looked to be in well-oiled condition. The strange silver bangle-like bands around his wrists were scratched and dented all over, and had definitely seen better days. She thought he didn't look the type to wear jewelry, but then again, she didn't know anything about him. _For all I know, he could secretly be just as much of a fashionista as Genesis. Or enjoy long bubble baths, volunteer at the local library, or own a cat named Fabio. I really have no idea!_ This time Kate really did snigger out loud at that last thought, and as luck would have it, the old microphone attached to her headset picked up the sound and broadcast it to the other occupants in the helicopter.

Sephiroth, who had been sensing her gaze, slowly turned his head to look down at the woman beside him. Kate, who had been oblivious to her outburst, was caught like a Mu in a bear trap as her eyes met his. Before either party could speak, another voice crackled through their headsets.

"Well, there's the coastline. Better say goodbye to land while ya can! It's about an eight hour flight from here to the beautiful beaches of Costa del Sol, and its deliciously exotic women!" laughed Talos.

"Talos!" exclaimed Rio. "You can't be talking about women like that, that's inappropriate in front of Kate!"

Upon hearing her name, Kate broke eye contact with Sephiroth and leaned forward to tap Rio on the arm. "It's okay. Really, that's nothing to take offense over. You gotta remember I work with a bunch of nerdy guys in my department."

Rio didn't look convinced.

"Honestly," she continued, "I think they might be worse than the entire Shinra military unit combined. I mean, really, you should see some of the desktop wallpapers they use!" She laughed as Rio winced.

"Oh, yeah?" said Talos. "What exactly do ya mean by that?"

"Just use your imagination, Talos. Use your imaaa-gination…" said Kate with a grin looking in his direction. As her eyes traversed the console panel, they settled on a photograph taped to the dash in front of Rio. Looking for any excuse to not turn back to Sephiroth, Kate said a little silent prayer of thanks as the perfect distraction presented itself.

"Rio, is that your family?" she asked.

Rio following her gaze, leaned forward to pluck the photo from the dash, and handed it back to her, saying, "Yep! That's my wife, Rachel, and my son, Denzel. He is almost a year old now. Can't believe how fast time flies." He shook his head with a smile.

Kate took the photograph from him and studied it. The woman in the picture was a natural beauty with mid-length, dark brown hair and dark eyes. She had a shy smile, but it showed true happiness as she stood arm in arm with her husband and held their child. The boy was a roly-poly little thing bundled in a cream-colored onesie with a moogle pompom on top and little purple plush wings sticking out behind him. His face was screwed up in howling fury as if he was trying to summon the demons from Hell with his voice. Rio was smiling, but looked slightly uncertain as he held the screaming child with his wife.

Suddenly, a daring idea struck Kate. _What if I use this to get Sephiroth into the conversation? I bet he isn't the compassionate type, and this is sure to make him squirm having to talk about someone else's family_! Feeling bold and believing herself to have the upper hand since sitting beside him, Kate leaned toward Sephiroth chuckling.

"Aww! What a cute kid! Judging by this photo, I'd be willing to bet he has a decent set of pipes on him. Wouldn't you agree?" she asked Sephiroth shoving the photo in front of his face.

Choosing not to be rude, Sephiroth glanced down at the picture long enough to register there was indeed a screaming child in it and said simply, "Indeed." He then turned his face away to look out the window at the endless expanse of water surrounding them.

Kate dropped her arm and huffed in frustration. _So much for that idea. Well, at least he CAN talk._ She leaned forward and handed Rio the picture back. "Anyway, Denzel is adorable and your wife is very pretty. How did you two meet?" asked Kate.

Brightening up, Rio then proceeded into a long story about how they met and everything he had been doing in his life since. Talos interjected periodically to correct Rio's account of what really happened, much to Rio's consternation. Kate found herself getting carried away into the stories of their lives and the tales of the ridiculous situations Talos and Rio found themselves in since they had known each other. As she listened contentedly, she couldn't help but ponder what Sephiroth's life must be like as a part of SOLDIER and what his past was. Slouching down and leaning back into her corner of the bench seat, Kate tried to get as comfortable as she could while chiming into their stories as occasion dictated.

Sephiroth remained silent and stared out of the window while the hours flew by and the other three occupants laughed and swapped stories of the foolish things they had done. Of course, Talos had the most outlandish tales and reveled in sharing every little gory and inappropriate detail much to the dismay of the other passengers, who then took it upon themselves to pester him with so many questions. He finally told Kate and Rio to "Shut it and let me fly the damn bird!" The two of them shared a grin and fell into a comfortable silence as the sun began to set on the horizon.

Stretching back in the seat, Kate let out a sigh. "Now that is a view I could get used to," she said as she gestured at the sky before them. The entire sky was awash in an orange-golden glow as the sun dipped below the water's edge. The sea was a shimmering expanse of pink liquid softly glinting in the dimming light as it transitioned to a ripened-plum purple in the distance. Kate thought it looked like some ethereal alien planet with all of the spectral luminescence bouncing across the sea and sky.

The cockpit was silent as each of the passengers contemplated the view before them. _Maybe this little excursion won't be such a bad thing after all,_ thought Kate. _At the very least, I've met two wonderful and funny guys that may turn out to be friends even after this mission. Not to mention a good story to share with Moose and Eric when I get back. Though, somehow I doubt they will believe the part about going with Sephiroth. Maybe I'll need some sort of evidence. Hmmm…_

"Too bad Rachel can't see this," sighed Rio as he slumped in his seat holding the picture of his family and gazing out into the sunset.

"Why don't you take a picture on your phone?" suggested Kate.

Leaning over and digging in his pocket, Rio withdrew his phone and waved it in the air in front of Kate. "Heh. I'm a bit outdated in the tech department," he said with a frown.

Kate chuckled as she saw his phone. Not only was it a flip-phone but one of the earliest models without a camera or any network connectivity other than cellular.

"You still have a flip-phone!? What is the point of an old dinosaur like that?" she teased him. "Why don't you use Talos' then?"

Before Rio could reply, Talos grunted in the front seat. "Humph! I've no use for new-fangled, fancy, technology with all those buttons an' chirps an' whistles! I don't need no cell-phone! I'm a simple guy; I need simple things!" He shrugged.

"So says the man who flies a helicopter for a living with all kinds of 'buttons, chirps, and whistles' as you so eloquently put it!" laughed Kate.

"You know, she does kind of have a point there, Talos," said Rio with a small smile.

Talos grunted in answer and began checking his gauges along the console.

"Well, use mine then," she said as she bent down to rummage in her bag for her phone.

"We'll be getting into Costa in a little over an hour," said Talos over his shoulder after a moment of fiddling with another gauge and checking his readings.

"That close now, huh?" said Kate as her hands found her phone and pulled it out of her bag. As she did so, she accidentally tugged the spare cable out with it, and sent the wire-cutters spinning across the floor of the aircraft to rest on the other side of Sephiroth. Before Kate could ask Sephiroth to hand her the wire-cutters as she was shoving the cable back into her bag; a gloved hand appeared in her range of vision holding the runaway tool. Kate let out a small gasp of surprise then her eyes flew up to meet Sephiroth's.

"Uh, thanks," she said in a small voice that was barely audible through the headset. Sephiroth's face was completely unreadable to Kate, but he nodded to her in acknowledgement as he offered the tool to her. Feeling her face start to burn, Kate quickly took the offered tool and shoved it back into her bag. _Seriously, can I not blush just once, when he looks at me?! Just once!_ Kate began to berate herself. _Stupid, clumsy self, ugh! Have got to stop going tomato-face! Okay, calm down; no sense getting crazy. We are almost off this thing. I can keep it together. Just take a deep breath…_

"Okay so, let me get a picture of you two together, alright? It's cool seeing the inside of a helicopter anyways," said Kate trying to distract herself from her embarrassment. She pulled up the camera function on her smartphone.

"Suuure it is," laughed Talos. "Ya just want to get a picture of me to keep under your pillow at night, lass! I know it!"

"Talos!" admonished Rio throwing his hands in the air.

"Yeah. That's it, Talos. Just turn around for a second, okay?" smirked Kate as she held up her phone with the sunset in the background of the two pilots. They turned around in their seats and Kate snapped the picture as she said "Say cheese!"

"Hey, I wasn't ready!" exclaimed Talos. "That's my bad side! Oh, wait. No it isn't. I haven't got a bad side, 'cause I'm sexy all the way 'round!" He wiggled his bushy eyebrows at Kate, who couldn't contain her exasperation any longer and rolled her eyes with a huff, but grinning all the same.

"Talos," began Rio shaking his head, "you are absolutely horrible. Do you know that?"

"Horribly good-lookin' ya mean!" corrected Talos slapping his knee with laughter.

"Oh, holy heaven above…"sighed Kate as she went to put her phone back into her bag.

"Wait a second!" piped up Rio. "I should get a picture of you, too. It is your trip as much as ours. Shouldn't you have something of yourself on this mission?" Rio held out his hand for the phone.

Kate hesitated before handing him the phone. "Okay. This is only for evidence that I did actually fly in a helicopter, and I did sit next to the Great Sephiroth, no less," said Kate as she turned towards her silent companion on the bench. "It is alright if Rio gets you in the picture? You don't even have to look at him or anything. This is only proof for my closest coworkers to see. Otherwise, I doubt they would believe me." Sephiroth looked down at Kate for a long moment not saying anything. Kate thought she didn't sell him on the idea and tried another tactic, "I swear I won't distribute it to your fan clubs, or whatever, either and -"

Sephiroth blinked slowly as he interrupted her. "Just take the picture."

Kate's eyes widened. "O-okay then," she said as she turned back toward Rio.

Rio, who had been holding the phone ready said, "Now it's my turn to take you by surprise. Say cheese!" And he tapped the screen capturing the image. He handed the phone back to Kate, who promptly dropped it into her bag.

"Aren't you going to look at the picture and make sure it's a good one?" he asked.

Kate shrugged. "I am not sure I want to know what I look like right now, honestly. And besides, it's not like we are Shinra runway models, in a photo-shoot, anyways. Well, I mean, he kind of is, but I'm not. And you aren't supposed to look at your pictures when traveling until you get home. It ruins the surprise and keeps you from living the moment as it happens, you know?" Rio was just staring at Kate and darting glances at Sephiroth watching his reaction as she rambled on. As if realizing what she was saying, Kate quickly reached out to Sephiroth but fell short of touching him. "Oh, I didn't mean that you were a fashion model or anything, or you know, like feminine or- um, I'm… babbling aren't I?" She let out a nervous laugh. "Uh, I'll just, uh….um, I'll just shut up now." Grasping for anything around her to change the subject, Kate went on. "Oh, look the sun sank beneath the sea! How pretty!" She quickly whirled back around and pretended that she was invisible as she looked out her window at the rapidly darkening sky.

Sephiroth who had been watching Kate as she spoke had a mild look of surprise on his face (i.e. slightly raised an eyebrow) continued to look at her for several moments after she had turned away. He noticed that she was concentrating to no avail to act like nothing had happened. Sephiroth blew air through his nose, and turned back to his own window, not even sparing to look in Rio's direction who he sensed was still watching the entire exchange. Feeling annoyed at the other man's curiosity, Sephiroth slid his eyes toward Rio without moving his head and glared at him.

Rio jumped in his seat and quickly turned back to the front of the cockpit to busy himself with the gauges and controls.

Satisfied that he had put him in his place, Sephiroth continued to watch the waves of the dark ocean beneath him pondering passages from the latest book he was reading at headquarters, to while away his time in the aircraft.

The remainder of the flight was in near silence as Talos and Rio conversed sporadically with information about their direction, speed, and clearance with the air control tower.

Kate half-listened as she looked out into the blackness surrounding the helicopter and couldn't help but smile to herself when she saw the beginnings of a glow in the distance. The lights of Costa del Sol flickered into view above the ocean waves growing brighter and more distinct by the second as the chopper sped towards its destination.

"Alright, kiddos! Buckle up! I hope you're ready for a bumpy ride! We're comin' in quick!" shouted Talos as he began the descent toward the myriad swirl of lights beneath them.

"I haven't taken mine off since I put it on in Midgar. Especially the way you fly," muttered Kate to no one in particular as the helicopter began to lurch and rock. As soon as the words left her mouth she thought she heard a strange sound of mirth coming across the headset, but looking to the front where Talos and Rio were busy shouting at each other she didn't think they heard her. _Thankfully._ Glancing at Sephiroth, Kate thought he seemed to be absorbed in watching the view outside his window, perfectly at ease with the chaos unfolding around him. She doubted he was even mentally with them on the Planet at the moment. _Though, technically we are still in the air. But I doubt for very long the way we are dropping out of the sky so fast…_ thought Kate as her stomach seemed to lift up to her throat. _Ugh…now is not the time to be sick. Just take deep breaths, keep breathing, don't be sick, don't be sick. That's the last thing I need to do right now._ _Oh, no. Urrghhh…_ Kate hastily clamped a hand over her mouth as a wave of nausea washed over her.

Closing her eyes, Kate tried to imagine herself anywhere but in a rickety old helicopter heading for the ground. Of course, she failed miserably in her endeavor as she immediately began picturing what they would all look like upon impact. _They will be scraping me off of the pavement with a shovel,_ she thought. _Poor Sephiroth, to be killed by a measly crash. No glorious battle. No cheering comrades. No honorable, and noble way to die. Just sitting alongside a couple of crazy Regular Joe's going to meet the maker. I pity him._ Kate opened her eyes long enough to look at Sephiroth one last time. He was sitting as far away from her as he could on the bench, watching her warily as if she was something disgusting. _Almost. Okay, never-mind. Scratch that, I don't pity you one bit! Just for that look, buddy, I'm going to make sure I vomit all over you before we die!_ Thought Kate with vehemence as her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed at him.

Suddenly, the helicopter jerked hard as it hit the pavement; sparks flew beneath the runners as it skidded nearly a quarter of a turn around on the helipad. Talos and Rio were still shouting at one another as the chopper rocked like a tin can back onto the skis. The metallic machine groaned once then sagged and settled onto the tarmac as the rotors wound down with a horrible, screeching, grinding noise. Upon the first initial impact with the ground, Kate had squeezed her eyes shut and pushed herself as far into her corner of the bench as she could while still holding her hands over her mouth. Everything went silent to her as her brain stopped registering her surroundings and she prepared for the worst.

Silence continued for no more than a second or two before her brain registered a sound. It was the harsh clicking of latches being disengaged; magnified by her adrenaline rush, as the noise echoed through her ears. Next followed the screech of metal on metal as a door was pushed back on its track. Warm, humid air washed over her, and the smell of the sea permeated her nostrils. Kate still hadn't budged.

A gentle nudging caused her to start as Rio put his hand on her shoulder. "Kate? Kate? Are you alright?" he asked his face tense with concern.

Kate opened her eyes; her gaze meeting Rio's. She slowly took her hands down from her mouth and nodded to him. Closing her eyes for a moment again, she took a huge gulp of air and let it go, before looking back at him.

"I think," she said weakly as she pulled the headset off, "I left my stomach up there somewhere in the sky."

Rio grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "That all? Flying does take some getting used to. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't throw up all over the place. Goodness knows, I did when I first flew with Talos." He laughed at the surprised expression on her face and continued, "Oh, yeah. He may be a brilliant pilot in the air, and he can fly anything anywhere, but he can't land comfortably worth a darn. Never has. Might be the reason why he never got the chance to pilot the executives at Shinra or do commercial flights. And I expect he probably never will!" Backing up but still bent over in the aircraft, Rio offered Kate his hand. "Think you can stand now?"

Kate nodded. As she leaned forward gathering her bag and reaching for Rio's hand, she looked past him out the open door and saw Sephiroth conversing with Talos out on the pavement. Sephiroth had just said something to Talos, who waved off whatever Sephiroth had said. The two men then nodded in an agreement of some sort and Sephiroth strode away towards the bright lights of the main town while Talos headed towards the helicopter. Kate had just managed to limp down onto the helipad when Talos reached her.

"Careful, now, Missy," he said as he offered her an arm. Kate gratefully took it, as Talos swept his other arm out before him gesturing towards the bright lights and distant noise of people and music before them.

"Welcome, to Costa del Sol, Kate," he said with a huge grin.


	6. Shoe Casualties

****Author's Note** Yes, I am pure evil. It's okay you can hate me since it's been over half a year since I updated. BUT I haven't forgotten about the story, just had a lot of other things going on, like for instance: graduating college, finding a job, and getting engaged. Now I have to plan a wedding, but hey that's life. I won't promise I'll update more, but since I won't say I will do something, I probably will do it anyway. That all works out in your favor, dear readers! Okay, I'll shut up now, enjoy this tediously long filler chapter before the good stuff starts happening.**

CHAPTER 6 – Shoe Casualties

"Must you always be so dramatic, Talos?" queried Kate with a weary grin.

Talos looked down at Kate as he helped her away from the helicopter, and said with a smile, "Well, ya don't get to be as old as I am, and not find yerself lookin' at all the little things that life has to offer. Gotta find happiness where ya can in this world, and mine happens to be right here in Costa. So of course I'm gonna be excited to show ya all the ins and outs of my town! I love to land the bird here every chance I get!"

Kate mused his words over momentarily. "Wow, Talos. That was deep coming from you," she teased.

"Tell me about it," said Rio as he jumped down from the chopper and threw a small overnight bag over his shoulder. "As you have no doubt noticed by now, most of Talos' conversations revolve around three things: flying aircraft, women, and himself, in no particular order." Rio paused a moment and feigned scratching his head in thought, then continued slowly, "Well, maybe there is an order to all that, he would probably put himself at the top of the list."

Talos let go of Kate and smacked Rio on the upper arm saying, "Watch it kid! I know I could still lay ya out in two seconds flat!"

Rio rubbed his arm and rolled his eyes making a face back at him.

"Well, take Missy here with ya into town and get us all set up with our rooms. Then get yer butt back here to help me with refuelin'. Ya know the drill," went on Talos oblivious to Rio's reaction. "I'm gonna go have a chat with ol' Dale in the tower 'bout some of his choice words before we landed!" Talos cracked his knuckles threateningly and tried to hide his grin as he roared with laughter to himself and strolled off towards the air control tower.

Kate looked at Rio, "Is he always so…?" she began.

"Yeah," said Rio cutting her off.

They shared a knowing looking slowly nodding at one another. Rio was the first to break the moment.

"Come on, let's go get you settled," he said as he headed towards the main gate that opened onto the town. Kate fell into step beside him.

The first thing Kate noticed about Costa Del Sol was the noise. With every step she took the volume increased. She could hear loud music of several varieties clashing against each other; the bass battling out beats in fury for dominance. Hundreds of voices drifted in the breeze like a massive humming beehive, punctuated by shrieks of laughter and yelling children. Dogs barked, cats yowled, birds squawked, and something trumpeted that sounded suspiciously like an Elfadunk. As Kate and Rio passed beyond the double-barred metal gate to the airfield, the brightness of Costa Del Sol's main street momentarily blinded them. As Kate's eyes adjusted to the swirls of color and hectic movement of the market she suddenly felt out of her element. People swarmed amongst the colorful awnings and market stalls housing all sorts of produce, goods, and souvenirs. Rio had taken several steps into the crowd before stopping to turn back to Kate.

"Hey, keep up!" he called to her, "Otherwise you'll never find me!"

Kate, stirring from her culture shock, hurried to Rio's side, as he began to thread their way through the crowd. Intent on not losing Rio amongst the throng, Kate tried to concentrate on Rio's back as he dodged back and forth through bronzed and tanned bodies staggering everywhere with beverages in hand. As they made their progress towards the inn at the end of the street, Kate found herself gaping at her surroundings trying to take it all in. She was amazed at the vibrant colors of the buildings and crowd alike including the lights that lit up the main plaza as if it were day. Colorful stringed lights winked overhead entwined with wispy streamers as they zig-zagged across the street as if part of a giant sparkling spider web. Small spot lights beneath building overhangs lit up establishment signs advertising anything from item shops to souvenirs to bars and clubs. A majority of the buildings lining the plaza were indeed bars which explained a lot to Kate. Everyone around her seemed incredibly intoxicated and euphoric. People paraded about in their swimwear and skimpy clothes leaving nothing to the imagination as they reveled in the street.

Kate suddenly lurched sideways as she slipped on something, and looked down at the cobblestone street as she righted herself to investigate what had tripped her up. It was a florescent pink flip-flop with no mate in sight. The lonely shoe momentarily reminded her of a party she attended in her university days where she had gotten so drunk at one of the frat houses in an attempt to fit in, but had turned into a night of horror with several of her classmates chasing her through the streets wearing clown masks and wigs. (Kate was irrationally afraid of clowns, and when her classmates found out about that tidbit of information they wasted no time in acting on it.) She had been wearing flip-flops that night and in her drunken fright she had ignored (and reasonably not understood in her inebriated state of mind) the orange construction cones and sign that warned of wet cement. She had charged straight through the middle of the sidewalk losing one of her flip-flops to the gritty mess. At that point the boys had given up the chase due to fits of laughter at poor Kate struggling to sprint through setting cement. The next day Kate had to walk by the very spot where the cement was curing. Skirting the sidewalk along with the other pedestrians, Kate happened to look at the cement to see what damage she had caused only to find that the majority of her foot prints had filled themselves in as the cement dried leaving only dented irregularities in the surface, but the end of one bright pink flip-flop was plainly seen sticking up from the mass. When her classmates had seen the damage that day they had decided to refer to that street as "Kate's Run of Shame" thereafter, never letting her live it down. A chunk of the flip-flop still remains embedded in the sidewalk to this very day, much to Kate's embarrassment.

Moving forward and looking beyond her feet she saw several other flip-flops and sandals that had been forgotten by their owners this evening. _I have a feeling they won't be the last casualties of the night, either_ , she thought to herself. Searching for Rio in the crowd she spotted his uniform up ahead and struggled against the tide to reach him. Finally coming to a stop beside him, Kate bent over huffing in the warm night air, and looked up at Rio only to find him grinning at her in amusement.

"You'll be happy to know that you'd survived the most difficult part of the night," he said still grinning. "We've made it to the inn."

Straightening up, Kate replied, "I don't know if that was the most difficult part, as Talos' landing wasn't exactly my cup of tea." Turning to look out over the plaza they had just crossing with swarming bodies, Kate continued, "Although, that wasn't entirely pleasant either. I can't believe how many shoes are out there! One nearly killed me!"

Rio laughed. "Oh, yeah! Sorry, I forgot to warn you about that. I'm just so used to this place that I didn't think about it."

"It's no biggie," shrugged Kate, as she suddenly was overcome with a yawn she tried to cover. "Sorry about the yawn, I guess I'm a little wore out from the adventure today."

"That's understandable," said Rio as he reached for the Inn's door. "Let's get you settled in so I can get back out to Talos, and keep him from getting into too much trouble."

"Rio, that is a full time job in itself, and I don't envy you one bit!" laughed Kate as she nodded her thanks passing him into the darkened interior of the inn.

"You have _no_ idea," murmured Rio rolling his eyes and shaking his head to himself.

They walked up to the concierge at the small front desk. A shorter middle-aged woman with long, dark-brown hair braided into a luxurious plait at the back of her head looked up at their entrance and quickly broke into a smile when her eyes fell on Rio. She moved quickly around the counter, and hurried up to him, hugging him in delight.

"Well, bless my soul! If it isn't my dashing little pilot, Rio!" she exclaimed standing back to look up at him.

Rio was blushing furiously from the display of affection. "Hi, Annabelle. H-how h-have you been?" he stammered as he adjusted his uniform and struggled for composure.

"Oh, darling, business has been booming as ever! But don't you worry I always have rooms for you and your handsome rogue of a captain!" she winked at him.

"Uh, well, thanks, Annabelle," here Rio gestured to Kate standing beside him, "and before I forget, Annabelle, this is Kate. Kate, this is Annabelle- owner of the Inn."

Kate had remained silent and was currently inspecting the other woman's odd choice of footwear which involved a ratty old pair of bedroom slippers adorned with obnoxiously large chocobo feathers glued over the top. The feathers bent up along the front of her bare shins and Kate couldn't understand how they weren't tickling the woman to death.

Annabelle turned and gave Kate the once over before saying coolly, "Lovely to meet you. And how is it, exactly, you know my boys?" The woman arched her well-manicured brow at Kate.

Taken aback by the woman's drastic change in demeanor, Kate struggled to find words; however, before she could formulate a response, Rio stepped in. "We all just met this morning actually," he said with a worried smile. He was alarmed at Annabelle's iciness towards Kate. "Kate here, works for Shinra as an engineer, and we just happened to be the pilots assigned to ferry her on a mission."

Annabelle's face visibly relaxed and she brightened up immeasurably. "Ahh, I see. Well that's wonderful dear!" she said enthusiastically towards Rio then turned back towards Kate. "My boys are very important to me and I make sure they want for nothing! I even have a box of those chocolate truffles Talos is so fond of. I must be sure to give those to him personally," said Annabelle as she moved back behind the counter and began rummaging through her drawers.

"Speaking of," she continued, "where is that rascal? He's not avoiding me is he?!" The woman straightened up abruptly looking stricken and inquiringly at Rio.

"Oh, no! Nothing like that, Annabelle!" said Rio in panic waving his hands in front of him and shaking his head vigorously to emphasize his point. "He's probably just chewing out Dale before refueling the chopper. Oh crap! I need to get back to him before he decides to loosen the bolts on my seat again!"

Dropping his bag and rushing towards the door, Rio stopped for a moment and called back, "Sorry, Kate, I gotta run, but you're in good hands with Annabelle. I'll see you in the morning, alright?"

He didn't even wait for Kate's response before dashing out the door, letting it swing closed and leaving Kate standing in the foyer alone with the emotional innkeeper.

Kate turned back to Annabelle smiling uncertainly, "I guess he's in a hurry."

Annabelle was still staring at the door where Rio had stood a moment ago. Snapping out of her trance, she glanced over at Kate upon hearing her speak.

"Silly boys," she said shaking her head, "always in a rush and always messing things up. Aren't they?" She dug around behind the desk, found what she was looking for and then walked around the counter towards Kate.

"Uh, yeah, I guess they are," replied Kate nervously.

"Of course, they are!" stated Annabelle as if there was no other opinion than her own.

Kate made a motion to pick up Rio's bag.

"Just leave it," said the innkeeper, "I'll bring it to his room. Come with me. I'll show you to your room."

Kate fell into step behind the older woman and followed her up the tiled stairs to the inn's second floor. As they continued along the hallway, Annabelle asked, "So, what do you think of Talos?"

Kate didn't answer right away. _This is a loaded question, I just know it. Ugh, I don't have the brainpower left for this. Dammit, woman! Can't you just control your misplaced jealousy, give me the key to my room, and leave me be?!_ thought Kate furiously. They had stopped walking outside of room 211 and the innkeeper had turned to regard Kate as she waited suspiciously for Kate's answer. _Crap! What am I supposed to say? Do I admit I think he's a nice old flirt or do I say he's bat-shit crazy and a reckless pilot?_ Sensing the other woman's impatience, Kate made a decision and settled on the middle of the road. "He's a happy-go-lucky ol' guy with a crazy sense of humor and adventure, that I believe got him into a lot of trouble in his younger days," said Kate with apprehension as she watched Annabelle's face warily.

For a moment Annabelle didn't respond. Kate thought she blew it and was about to be murdered by a crazy old lady with chicken slippers on her feet. Then Annabelle's face split into a wicked grin as she reached for the door handle and chuckled, "Honey, you have no idea what trouble that man is!" She pushed the door open and handed Kate the key to her room. "Go enjoy yourself, dear. The party is just starting down there. And you are only young once!" she added with a wink and then proceeded to make her way down the hall towards the stairs laughing to herself.

Kate continued to stand in the doorway of the room staring down the hall still dumbstruck over what had just transpired. Finally her brain registered that she could go to bed now since there were no more obstacles in her way keeping her from sleep. A yawn attacked Kate as her eyes settled on the bed and she decided sleep was in order. Partying was not a priority to her, even though she knew Eric would be mad at her for not getting pictures of the celebration outside. Shutting the door behind her, Kate moved to the side of the bed, and sat down for a moment before attacking her boot laces. _Too bad, buddy boy,_ she thought, _maybe if you are lucky I'll get up super early tomorrow and go take pictures of the beach. Heh that_ would _be funny. I'll get him pictures of the beach while no one is there and show him the umbrellas really are blue and orange! Well, I think they are, at least. Guess I'll find out in the morning._

Moving her boots to the end of the bed, Kate stood up again and stretched before walking into the bathroom. Upon her investigation, she found soaps samples, little bottles of shampoo and conditioner, a simple hair comb of the throwaway variety, and a toothbrush complete with mini toothpaste. Kate went through her nightly routine of cleaning up and dressing down and decided she'd just sleep in her t-shirt since it was so warm in the room. She climbed into bed after satisfactorily detangling her hair with the comb and reached for her phone.

 _Let's see, I know we will be leaving at the butt crack of dawn again, so I should probably get up a little earlier than that. I guess another 5'oclock it is then._ Setting her alarm on the phone and turning off the bedside lamp, she settled under the covers and lay there for a few moments listening to the faint murmuring of the party outside. Tuning out the lull of the street noise, she let her mind wander as she recounted her day.

 _I can't believe I'm in Costa del Sol right now. Who would have imagined? And I met some amazingly nice people today, Talos and Rio are a hoot. I sincerely believe we will be friends for life after this. I know I'll be inviting them over for dinner at the very least so I can catch up on all their silly antics._ She snorted to herself. _Although, I better make sure I have double the food, I bet Talos could eat a whole cow himself! And then there was Sephiroth. Hmmm. I wonder where he went off to. I doubt the scene in the plaza would be his ideal destination. Did he come here to get a room, or did he go to another inn? Even so, how did he get wherever he was going with all these crowds of people milling around? He'd stick out like a sore thumb! Why am I even worrying about him? Psh, who cares? The guy is pretty much a jerk, anyways. He's probably holed up in some executive suite somewhere scoffing at the maid for bringing him anything less than the best champagne while enjoying a bubble bath. Why do I always associate bubble baths with him?_ An image of a bare-chested Sephiroth sitting in a large garden tub came to Kate's mind. _Whoa! Okay, don't know where that came from, but I think it's time for sleep!_

Making a conscious effort not to envision Sephiroth again, Kate thought about her co-workers back in Midgar and recounted the contents of the mission file as she drifted off to sleep.


End file.
